Mary White (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, to the House. Senator Henry's motion states "in view of the fact that cancer is the second most common cause of death in Irish women and that death rates from cancer are higher in women in Ireland than in women in other European countries". When one considers this issue coldly and clinically, it is clear that if one can pay for a private health service, one will not be in the group of people who die from cancer.

This point has not been made so far in the debate. We are talking about people who do not have the money to access private health care. In the time of the Celtic tiger, that is a primitive situation. We are excluding those who cannot pay for health care whereas others could avail of cancer screening, a cervical test or a mammogram today and receive the results tomorrow. We need to get our act together. One person died in Turkey from avian flu but there are 65 deaths per year in Ireland from cervical cancer alone. In 2001, 645 women died from breast cancer. We need an inclusive national screening programme, regardless of whether women are rich or poor, rather than the exclusive medical system we have in place.

There are three medical people among us, the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, and Senators Glynn and Henry. They are dealing with these issues and know about them. Vision is needed to cut through the waffle and the reports and to inform the HSE to set about implementing a national cervical cancer screening programme. A decision must be made to implement it and to treat all woman equally rather than on the basis of their means. This is not a women's issue but a family issue. It is also a man's issue because, as Senator Glynn pointed out, women have sons.

The former Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Martin, had the vision and guts to push through the banning of smoking in public places. He did not have much support for that ban initially but he continued to push for it. As a former smoker I suppose I cannot talk about the issue. I gave up cigarettes 20 years ago and did not find it easy to do so. Now we are experiencing the pleasure of not having to breathe in cigarette smoke in public places. The Minister, Deputy Martin, had the vision to deal with the objections and cut to the chase to ban smoking in public places. The Minister, Deputy Harney, needs to have similar vision in deciding to implement a national cervical cancer screening programme which will cost €18 million to roll out.

Dr. Grainne Flannelly, a consultant in Holles Street, who deals with cervical cancer screening, invited me to visit her clinic last year. She told me that women arrive into her clinic in a pre-cancerous stage and are petrified because they believe that once they get cancer, the chances are they will die. A woman who has a number of children and is on a low income would prefer to pay for her children, rather than herself, to be seen by the doctor. She will forfeit her own health to look after her family's health. That is the position in many cases.

I will support the motion on this side of the House; Senator Henry knows the position I am in.